SEDGE TRIBE 43 
10. Koprista (Kobresia). 
Compound-headed Kobresia (XK. caricina).—An unpretending little 
plant, with the habit of one of the lesser Sedges, or the short robust form 
of Sheep’s Fescue-grass. The stem is erect and rigid, from 6—12 inches 
high. The spikelets, each of which contains two flowers, are collected into 
four or five small spikes, and these are aggregated at the summit of the stem. 
The fertile flower contains one pistil with three stigmas; the barren, three 
stamens. The lowest bract is somewhat larger than the rest; the nut is 
obscurely triangular, and is included within the sheathing scale. The leaves 
are much shorter than the stem, tufted and curved. It grows, forming 
densely tufted masses, on moors in the North, and flowers in August. Some | 
botanists describe it under the name of Elyna caricina. 
11. SEDGE (Cdrez). 
i. Spikelet simple, solitary. Stigmas 2. 
* Stamens and pistils on different plants. 
1. Creeping Separate-headed Sedge (C. diotca).—Fertile spikelet 
egg-shaped ; glumes obtuse; fruit ascending or horizontal (not deflexed) ; 
barren spikelet slender; leaves and stem smooth ; rootstock creeping. A 
slender plant, about 6 inches high, growing in spongy bogs, and flowering in 
May and June. Not common. 
2. Prickly Separate-headed Sedge (C. davallidna).—Fruit tapering 
to a point, rough, deflexed; leaves and stem rough; rootstock tufted. 
Resembling the last, and about the same size. It formerly grew at Lansdown, 
near Bath, but has been long extinct. 
* * Stamens and pistils in separate flowers on the same spikelet. 
3. Flea Sedge (C. pulicéris).—Spikelet slender, the upper half bearing 
stamens, the lower pistils; fruit tapering to a point at cach end, glossy, 
at first erect, finally deflexed. A pretty little plant, from 6—10 inches 
high, common in bogs and on moist moorlands. The slender stem, scarcely 
thicker than a horsehair, bears from six to twelve shining brown seeds, 
which are distant from each other, and when ripe bear a strange resemblance 
to insects, clustering like aphides round the stem. The upper portion of the 
spikelet which bears the stamens remains unaltered. The leaves are tufted, 
long, and bristle-shaped. It flowers in May and June. 
ii. Spikelet simple, solitary. Stigmas 3. 
4, Rock Sedge (C. rupéstris).—Spikelet very slender, with the upper 
half barren, and a few fertile flowers at the base; fruit triangular, brown, 
erect ; leaves flat, terminating in a long curling point; rootstock creeping 
and sending off runners. A very rare plant, from 3—6 inches high, growing 
on shelves of rocks in the Highlands, at an altitude of over 2,000 feet, and 
flowering in July. It has been recorded from Aberdeen, Forfar, Perth, and 
Sutherland. 
5. Few-flowered Sedge (C. paucifléra).—Spikelet of from four to six 
6—2 
